


Exodus

by scythe_lyfe



Category: Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Gen, Humor, Light Angst, Names
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-28
Updated: 2019-06-28
Packaged: 2020-05-15 06:31:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19290139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scythe_lyfe/pseuds/scythe_lyfe
Summary: Something that's been bugging me since I finished the miniseries is that Aziraphale, as a principality, actually outranks all the archangels except maybe Michael* (according to the medieval theologians who came up with this lore in the first place) so why is he taking orders from Gabriel and co?  This is my attempt at a plausible explanation.*As might be expected, there's a lot of different versions of angelic hierarchy from different branches of Christianity; some see Michael as being God's right hand man second only to Jesus and some put him with the other archangels second from the bottom.





	Exodus

**Author's Note:**

> The relationship is only implied and not the focus here, but I ship it too hard not to put it in.

A thing you have to understand about ethereal beings is they are not, in fact, meant to change.  Yes, they have been contradicting this since before Time, starting with Lucifer, but that does not change that they were not _meant_ to.

As any eldest child can tell you, parents give their youngest gifts and their oldest duties, and God was no exception.  To Adam and Eve She gave free will, a lush garden, and, for some ineffable reason, an apple tree they weren't supposed to eat from.  To the Seraphim She gave feather dusters, to the Powers She gave maps, and to one Cherub in particular She gave a flaming sword and the watch over the Eastern Gate to the Garden.

Aziraphale was not entirely sure what exactly he was supposed to be guarding Eden  _from,_ since all of God's creatures were inside it and one Angel wasn't going to do much against the forces of Hell if they chose to attack (the concepts of subtlety and espionage being as yet unknown to the Heavenly Host), but he was happy to stand there looking rather impressive with his flaming sword, and really, this was so much better than keeping God's favorite chair in perfect condition, he had no idea why the Seraphim considered it such an honor.

Of course everyone knows how the Demon  ~~Crawly~~ Crowley infiltrated the Garden disguised as a serpent, tricked the humans into eating the forbidden fruit thereby introducing them to a couple of choice Sins, and set off the countdown to almostgeddon; and how the Angel Aziraphale took pity on the fascinating and seemingly helpless creature and gave them his sword, and was then sent to watch over humanity as a sort of penance.

What everyone does not know is what this  _means._

 

Aziraphale could feel his Divine Light growing dimmer with every step he took away from the Garden.  It did not matter that the Garden no longer  _was,_ that God in Her wrath (not Wrath, never Wrath) had wiped it clean off the Earth - God had changed his mission, sending him among the humans like a common angel, and his rank, demoting him from Cherub to Principality, but she had not changed his essence.  He was still Aziraphale of the Eastern Gate, and as Eastern became ether so did Aziraphale fade.

 

A thing you have to understand about occult beings is they are quite literally the opposite of what they were _meant_ to be, so the same rules don't apply.  Crowley's power remained the same as long as there was Sin, and since he'd managed to get Sin and Humanity thoroughly intertwined, the Demon had more or less full coverage, as it were.

Skulking in the shadows as Eden was emptied out, Crowley had heard the punishment God had given Aziraphale and he felt an odd sort of kinship with him.  While they were still technically enemies, here was another being paying a price for no greater crime than not following the rules to the letter.  Unlike most of his cohort, Crowley was a creature of mischief, not malice; bored to tears and faced with an eternity of peace and tranquility, what was an angel to do but ask a few questions and ruffle a few feathers?  At first his former brethren had looked on him with a sort of fond bemusement:  _who is this odd fellow who can't sit still while singing praiseful hymns and once dipped the Seraphs' feather dusters in a bucket of old stardust just to watch them frantically try to figure out where it came from,_ but then Lucifer became Satan and Heaven became increasingly intolerant of anything but blind faith and total submission and Crowley became a Demon, and here he was, watching some other poor sod lose his place in the firmament mostly for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. 

Much, much later, Crowley would wonder if he would have Fallen at all had Heaven had any idea what true Evil looked like.  It was a discomforting train of thought no matter the conclusion, so he tried not to.

As Aziraphale walked away, the part of him that would one day come to Britain and think  _home!_ keeping a stiff upper lip, Crowley decided he'd keep an eye on this angel.  Just so he'd know what his enemy was up to, mind, it had nothing whatsoever to do with  _kindness._

 

 It just so happens that Divine Law, like any other law, has quite a number of handy little loopholes.  When Aziraphale first settled in London and felt himself growing stronger - not a return to the awesome might of the Cherub he had once been, but enough that he no longer felt completely at the mercy of the archangels,  _technically his subordinates_ he thought sardonically, who came to check up on him now and then - he chalked it up to the healing power of Time and thought nothing more of it.  

When he was trapped in a human prison during the French Revolution, too weak after using miracles to travel to even free himself, he finally understood that London, the greatest and Easternmost city of England, had infused itself into his spirit.  It could never replace Eden, but it strengthened him to have part of his Purpose restored.

When he told this to Crowley later that day over the crepes he had come for (foolishly, he will admit) in the first place, the demon just shrugged and said it was a good thing, wasn't it, that he had been in the area.

When Crowley was alone with his new knowledge of what Heaven had done to his, well, whatever Aziraphale was to him, he seethed, and hissed, and created a great deal of confusion by inventing the French Revolutionary Calendar.

 

Adam Young, the Antichrist, Destroyer of Worlds, Angel of the Bottomless Pit, etc. etc., frowned at the gaping, partly healed wound on the soul of the being he had just pulled from the body of Madame Tracey.  With a thought, he brought the edges together and smoothed them down before restoring his man-shaped body.

When the Angel Aziraphale stood hand in hand with the Demon Crowely at what was not quite the end of all things, ready to save the world or die trying, he was once again an Angel of the second highest order, a creature more beautiful and more terrible than mortal minds can comprehend. 

When Aziraphale interrupts Crowley's story telling, to the disappointed groans of the young Pulsifer-Device children, to point out that, really, he didn't look any different, Crowley just smirks and says "I know."  The children are  _highly_ amused at how red Aziraphale's face gets at this remark.


End file.
